The Technology Of Packing

In this week’s column I write about the joys of modular packing (subscription only, I’m afraid):

I’m a journalist. I don’t travel as much as I used to but I do travel. I’ve learned a few tricks over the years. And what has struck me is how, on the surface, not much has changed in thousands of years. Early business travelers would grab their stuff — a spare bearskin, a backup club, a few flints — and throw it into some sort of primeval pouch, hitch it over their shoulder and hurry after migrating mammoth prey, who were already pulling out of the terminal gate. (OK, I didn’t do much research for this bit.)

Nowadays (which I have researched extensively), things aren’t much different. We leave everything to the last minute, throw it into a bag, sit on it while getting the spouse to call a cab. Sure, our wheeled carry-on may look more sophisticated, but the technology is basically the same as that used by our hirsute forebears: A container, all our stuff, a mad rush and a mess.

Here are some links readers of the column may find useful on the general art of packing:

• Some packing tips from Mark Verber
• ..and some from Lucy Komisar
• .. and Ed Hewitt
• …and TravelPro
• …and BackpackEurope
• The bundle wrapping process
• Magellan’s tips on living out of a suitcase

And here are some modular packing products (I’m sure there are more):

• EagleCreek Pack-It cubes
• LifeVenture Packable Mesh cubes
• Mountainsmith’s modular haulers and cubes

There’s also an interesting reference, which I didn’t explore in the column, about the ties between modular packing and the container industry’s revival in the 1950s, as told by Peter Drucker in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, on Rajesh Jain’s Emergic blog.